Stoliczka, Cretaceous Gastropoda. 
50 
pt. 3.] 
Pelecypoda, especially the various Inoceramus- and Hippurite- types. Thus the original 
notion of representatives of Neocomien beds in South India more and more loses support, 
as already pointed out by me in the first volume of the “ Palseontologia Indica.” 
In conclusion I should like to draw attention to a parallel of our cretaceous deposits 
with those of Bohemia, Saxony, North Germany, etc.; this parallel being indeed a very 
remarkable one. Dr. Giimbel, who has lately (Sitzb. Gesellsch. Isis, Dresden, 1867, p. 72, etc.), 
devoted a little time to the study of the Bohemian and Saxon cretaceous deposits, states that 
they generally begin with a kind of fresh-water deposit containing numerous plant remains, 
and beiu» sometimes represented by a coarse conglomerate, both filling up cavities in the 
older rocks, which in many instances are metamorphic or crystalline. Immediately above 
these plant beds follows the scries of (^uadcr- and Plmner-heds, the oldest of which are 
characterized by Am. Mantclli, Inoceramus stnatus, Ostreet biaurieulata,, Exogym eulumha, 
etc., as Ccnomanien or the Upper Greensand of English Geologists; the highest'beds are the 
equivalents of the upper chalk with Inoceramus Cuvieri aud Crispi, Mhynchonclla odoplicaia, 
etc., or Senonien. Dr. Giimbel consequently acknowledges an upper* middle and lower Pkner, 
which may approximately be called Senonien, Turonien and Ccnomanien. Dr. Schlonbaeh, 
in a very valuable paper, printed in the Oificial Report of German Naturalists, etc. (Hanover, 
1865, p. 160, etc.), expressed similar opinions on the French equivalents of cretaceous beds 
in Hanover. Zittel, in his admirable work on the Bivalves of the Gosau-deposits (Denksch. 
Akad., Wien, XXV, 1866, part. II, p. 174, etc.,) enters upon the question of parallelism 
of those deposits with others in great detail and corroborates the opinion of most of his 
predecessors that they principally represent the Turonien and the Senonien. Were I to give 
at this early stage of examination of the fauna an opinion regarding the parallelism of our 
South Indian cretaceous rocks, I could, as I stated, only compare them with those of 
North Germany (Aachen, Saxony, Hanover) and Bohemia, but it is impossible to say which 
of our beds exactly correspond to the Ccnomanien, Turonien, and so on; probably the 
parallel must remain only a general one. To the Gosau-deposits our Trichinopoly and 
ArrialoOr beds appear to form a correlate. What characterizes the Cenomanien of our beds 
are the Cephalopoda; these are, however, very scarce in the Gosau-deposits. Those lately 
described by P. v. Hauer have fully the character of Cenomanien species. 
There is one point which deserves special attention during any subsequent examination 
of the ground of the South Indian cretaceous deposits, and this is respecting the plant beds, 
which underlio all the undoubted cretaceous rocks. Some time ago the Geologists, engaged 
in the survey of the Madras Presidency, have sent numerous plants and a large number of 
bivalves, etc., from these strata in the neighbourhood of Sripermatoor. A few small Ammo¬ 
nites belong to the Dentati group, hut they are insufficiently preserved i’or identification. 
Of bivalves there is a large number of species belonging to Leda, Yoldia, Tellina, Psctm- 
mobia, lima, Pecten and others ; all forms with a remarkably thin shell and the allies of 
which are at present usually found living on sandy ground in from 8-10 fathoms of water. 
Several exhibit a resemblance to species from the cretaceous rocks of Trichinopoly, hut none 
appear to be specifically identical. At another locality, fragments of an Inoceramus, which be¬ 
long to a flattened ribbed species like I. mytiloidcs, have been found with the same plants. 
Of the plants there have been several species (Palceozamia Cutcheims and acntijbliu-m , 
and a Dyctyopteris ?) recognized as identical with those from the Rajmabal beds and again 
with those found associated with the Jurassic Catch fossils. Thus this would distinctly prove 
that the South Indian plant beds below the cretaceous rocks are jurassie. I cannot "express 
the slightest opinion on this matter, but in pointing out the parallelism existing between the 
Indian and North German cretaceous beds, the similar structure of those whitish clay plant 
beds underlying, in both countries, the above formation appeared to me deserving of marked 
notice. Special attention must at any subsequent examination be devoted to tracing out the 
relations of those plant-bearing beds to the cretaceous beds of the Trichinopoly district. 
September, 1808. 
